Songbird Project Drops Linux Support

Songbird considers itself an iTunes alternative and while the project has had some success in that regard, not so much under Linux.

The team behind the Songbird music management program has decided to drop Linux support. The reason for the rather abrupt turnaround for the open source project is that Songbird has primarily satisfied Windows users, which has pushed Linux version development onto the back burner. The new version also provides video support, again with mostly a Windows focus. According to the Songbird team's announcement, 78% are active Windows users, with Linux and Mac OS users only at about 10% each.

The project now wants to concentrate more on Windows and Mac OS development. Thanks to an agreement with Philips, the software will be preinstalled on GoGear MP3 players. Fortunately, Linux support has not been written off entirely. Nightly Linux builds will continue to occur along with releases for packaging. Although Songbird claims to "remain loyal to Linux and the ideology it represents," this move seems to be counter to uniform functionality.

The final release of the Songbird web player hits the tightly packed music player scene. With the same extensibility common to the Mozilla family, Songbird gets ready to find its niche and ruffle some feathers.